The Campaign to End Statelessness
October – December 2021 Update
I BELONG
No longer invisible.
No longer stateless.
Mobilizing governments and civil society
On 14 and 15 December UNHCR organized the
first High-Level Officials Meeting which was an
opportunity for States and other stakeholders
to take stock of progress since the first Global
Refugee Forum in 2019 and to maintain the
momentum towards achieving the objectives of the
Global Compact on Refugees. Four new pledges
on statelessness were submitted by States at
the event. These include a pledge by the United
States to adopt a statelessness definition and
establish a statelessness determination procedure,
a pledge by Belgium to provide legal status
and the right of residence to stateless people,
a pledge from Burundi to ensure the protection
of people at risk of statelessness and, finally, a
pledge by Eswatini to ensure the issuance of civil
documentation to those with an entitlement to it.
In the lead-up to the High-Level Officials Meeting
UNHCR organized on 4 November a thematic
stocktaking event on “Accelerating Progress to
End Statelessness”. The event was an opportunity
for States to prepare for the HLOM. Panellists
and a wide range of stakeholders, including
States, regional organizations, UN Agencies, civil
society and affected individuals delivered short
remarks regarding the progress they have made
towards addressing statelessness since the HighLevel Segment on Statelessness and Global Refugee
Forum in 2019. A total of 299 participants from 96
countries attended the event.
On 30 November, UNHCR and UNICEF
convened a meeting for the members of the
Coalition on Every Child’s Right to a Nationality to
renew the momentum of the Coalition and
increase member engagement. The meeting
included a discussion of the key challenges faced
by members in working toward the objectives of
the Coalition; support that is required to overcome
these challenges; approaches for increasing the
effectiveness of the Coalition and; avenues for
continued engagement of coalition members.
UNHCR > The Campaign to End Statelessness | October – December 2021 Update
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